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AgendaMay 16, 2003

• Library Resources (Susan Boyd)

• Graduate School (Silvia Figueira)

• Senior Project Details (Dan Lewis)

• VDC Projects (Ruth Davis)

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Library Resources

Susan Boyd

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Welcome to Orradre Library• Reference and Research Services - In-person, e-mail and

24X7 web-based service

• ERes (Electronic Reserve System)

• Interlibrary Loan Services

• Group Study Rooms (reserve at the circulation desk)

• Quiet Study Areas

• PC Lab (run by IT - 2nd floor)

• Photocopiers, Printers available

• In-Person and Remote Access to Resources

• Government Documents

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Your Access Card: Don’t Leave Home Without It

•Your Access Card is Your Library Card--Your Record is Identified by the Barcode on the Back.

•Validate Your Card at the Circulation Desk BEFORE Borrowing Items or Accessing any Databases either in the library or offsite.

•Your Access Card Also Allows You to Print and Photocopy Pages While Using Library Computers.

•Your Access Card is Required for Library Entrance Between 11 PM and 2 am Sunday-Thursday.

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Beginning Your Search for Engineering Information

• Go to the Library’s website: http://www.scu.edu/library

• Use our online catalog -- OSCAR at: http://sculib.scu.edu for searching all materials EXCEPT journal articles. Journal titles are searchable, but not articles within them.

• For articles--on the library’s home page, select the subject Engineering under “Electronic Resources.”

• Use the appropriate database to identify the article you need. Note the symbols before the database names which tell you whether a database is on CD ROM only or is in full-text, etc.

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Electronic Databases For Computer Engineers • ACM Digital Library*

• Applied Science and Technology Index (FirstSearch)

• Engineering Village 2

• IEEE Xplore* (Core Collection 1998+ full text)

• InfoTech Trends

• Internet and Personal Computing Abstracts (FirstSearch)

• Papers (FirstSearch)

• Proceedings (FirstSearch)

* Denotes Full-text Databases

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CE Personal Interview Device(Actual Completed Senior Project with no bibliography)

Additional information extracted from library’s databases:

• Couper, M.P. et al. “Social presence in web surveys,” Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems – Proceedings, Seattle, WA, Mar 31-Apr 5, 2001, p. 412-417.

• Cooley, P.C. et al. “Automating telephone surveys,” Computers in Human Behavior, v.16, n.1, Jan 2000, p. 1-11.

• Marinelli, D. et al. “Synthetic interviews: the art of creating…,” IEEE Workshop on Interactive Voice Technology for Telecommunications Applications, Torino, Italy, Sep 29-30, 1998, p. 43-48.

• Greist, J.H. et al. “Computer interviewing,” Computer Application in Medical Care, 1978 – Proceedings, p. 227-230.

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Not at Orradre? • After Checking OSCAR and the Electronic Journal

List, We Don’t Have What You Need…

• Continue Your OSCAR Search by clicking on the Link+ icon to search in other libraries in the area.

• Click on “Request This Item” to borrow the item.• If you have no luck with Link+: Fill out our

Interlibrary Loan form online at: http://www.scu.edu/SCU/Library/Orradre/services/bx/

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Electronic Reserve Items (ERes) • To see materials your instructor has placed on

reserve:

• Go to: http://eres.scu.edu/

• Or click on “Connect to ERes” on the main OSCAR page, or clicking on “course reserves” on the main Orradre Library page.

• ERes is searchable by instructor name or course number.

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Questions?? • To ask a question electronically click on the “Ask a Librarian”

button on our website (It’s located on the upper right corner of most of the pages).

• Directional, procedural questions? Call our Help Desk x5725.

• Reference/research questions? Call the Reference Desk x4658.

• Doing in-depth research for a paper, project, etc. and need a consultation appointment? E-mail or call the Engineering Librarian--skboyd@scu.edu or x4067.

• Complete contact information is provided in the Green and Blue brochures.

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Graduate School

Silvia Figueira

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Graduate School

• It is really important to have options when you graduate

• Graduate school should be one of your options– A higher degree opens a bunch of doors

• However, you have to start the process right now

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Graduate School Options

• At SCU– 5-year MS program

• Somewhere else– MS– PhD

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5-year MS Program

• Advantages– Take a few MS courses during the senior year– These courses will be covered by your full time

tuition– Many MS core courses are replaced for

electives or an MS thesis– Satisfies Integrated Education requirement

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5-year MS Program

• Two MS degree programs– MS in Computer Engineering

• Broad-based core

• Five specialization tracks: networks, security, software engineering, multimedia, architecture and systems

– MS in Software Engineering• Narrow focus, greater depth

• No specialization tracks

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5-year MS Program

• Admission– BS from SCU

• Engineering

• Math

• Science

– Minimum GPA 2.75

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PhD/MS outside SCU

• Advantages– Go somewhere else– Meet new people– Learn from different professors– Work in different projects– Be at a bigger university

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PhD/MS outside SCU

• Getting into PhD programs may be harder, however…– It is even harder to move from the MS program

into the PhD program if you change your mind– Most of the scholarships go to PhD students– PhD students have a lot more respect in the

departments– PhD students work on much more ambitious

and exciting projects

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Application

• Summer– Prepare really well for the GRE– Search for schools and departments– Work on a research project with a professor

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Application

• Fall– Take the GREs as early as possible– Talk to professors, ask questions– Ask for letters of recommendation– Apply for schools by mid December

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Answering FAQs

• A higher degree does not limit what you can do later

• Scholarships are available!– NSF, NASA, AT&T, etc.– RAships, TAships, etc.

• Grad housing is very convenient• You don’t have to stall life• It takes about 5 years, but you only take courses in

the first 2 years

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Improving your chances

• Your senior project may be the ticket to an excellent PhD program– Choose the project carefully– If you have a school/group in mind, try to have

a project that matches what they are doing

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Important Information

• Webpage– www.cse.scu.edu/~sfigueira

• Talk about graduate school– In October

• Students going places– Daniel Anaya, Sonia Bui, Christopher Foster,

Vijay Janapa Reddi, Han Trieu

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SENIOR PROJECTS

Dan Lewis

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Concept

• cap·stone   n. 1. The top stone of a structure or wall.

2. The crowning achievement or final stroke; the culmination or acme1.

1acme: The highest point, as of achievement or development: reached the acme of her career.

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Importance

• Demonstrates your ability to apply knowledge from a variety of topics within computing, math, engineering, and the humanities to a problem worth solving.

• Recruiters WILL ask about your senior project! Choose a project that companies would care about!

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Team and Interdisciplinary Projects

• Stronger projects when done by teams– Team projects may ultimately become a School

of Engineering requirement.

• Interdisciplinary Projects– Strongly encouraged!– Mix of COEN, ELEN, MECH, CENG, or …– Mix of hardware design, software engineering,

networking, databases, operating systems, etc.

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We Want You to Succeed!

You Industry

SCU

1. We’ll help you to complete the most impressive project you can.

2. Significant projects will impress recruiters and graduate schools

3. Which enhances the reputation of the department, the school of engineering, and the University.

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Project Advisors

Atkinson, Dr. DarrenDavis, Dr. Ruth E.Dommel, Dr. Hans-PeterFigueira, Dr. Silvia (on leave in Spring)Holliday, Dr. JoAnne (on leave in Winter)Kitts, ChrisLewis, Dr. Daniel W.Li, Dr. QiangLing, Dr. NamMikkilineni, Dr. RaniNoll, Dr. John (on leave in Fall)Quinn, Dr. Neil R.Schwarz, Dr. ThomasShang, Dr. Weijia

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Web Resourceshttp://www.cse.scu.edu/send.cgi?Z&srprojects/index.htm

Past Reports (searchable)Procedures, Requirements, Deadlines, etc. • Project Suggestions • Procedures and Grading Policies (PDF) • Content, Organization, and Format of the Report • Ownership, Patents, and Copyright

Help Writing a Technical Report • Grammatical Style (General) • Use of Passive Voice • Writing for Real-World Audiences • Writing for Nonspecialist Readers • Strunk, "The Elements of Style" (online!)

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Past Issues1. Students needed to get started earlier.

• Some already were starting over summer.

2. Vague specification of deliverables.3. Vague specification of due dates.4. Non-uniform grading.

New Policy Documenthttp://www.cse.scu.edu/srprojects/policy.pdf

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COEN 194 Grade (Fall)

20%

60%

20% ProblemStatement

Design Report

AdvisorDiscretion

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COEN 195 Grade (Winter)

20%

20%

40%

20% Revised DesignReport

Design Review

OperationalSystem

AdvisorDiscretion

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COEN 196 Grade (Spring)

30%

20%

20%30%

ComprehensiveReport

Implementation

ConferencePresentation

Advisor Discretion

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Due Dates(Reminders on the calendar at www.cse.scu.edu)

Fall– Oct 10: Problem statement approved– Nov 28: Design report

Winter– Jan 30: Revised design report– Mar 12: Operational system

Spring– May 6?: Senior Design Conference presentation– Jun 4: Comprehensive report and completed

implementation

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Grading PolicyLate Penalty

20% per week or fraction of a weekLetter Grades

Only A, B, C, D, F, (+/-) or I (Incomplete).A grade of “N” is not allowed.

Failure of any course (COEN 194, 195, 196)Must retake entire sequence.

Missed Design Review or Design ConferenceGrade of zero on that component.

Plagiarism1st offense grade of zero on deliverable2nd offense failure in course

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Report

1. Signature Page

2. Title Page

3. Abstract

4. Acknowledgements

5. Table of Contents

6. List of Figures

7. List of Tables

8. Introduction(First Chapter)

9. Main Body(Middle Chapters)

10. Conclusions(Last Chapter)

11. References

12. Appendices

Restart numbering here with page “1”.

Start here with page “i”.

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Report

• ABET Addendum– http://www.cse.scu.edu/srprojects/ABETAddendum.pdf

• Business Plan– Optional, but desirable.

– Do you have any friends majoring in business?

• Lessons Learned– Also include as a last slide at senior conference presentation

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VDC

Ruth Davis